My six-year-old self sat on our floral printed couch with my head resting in my tiny hands. I was facing one of the biggest problems ever, my Halloween costume went out of stock. It was the end of the world, my perfectly pretty pink poodle skirt was no longer available.

I cried to my mom for hours on end, I cried until there were no tears left to come out.
* * *
The phone rings, it was my aunt, Aunt Laura she asks my mom what all the commotion in the background is and my mom responds.
“Oh that’s just juj being dramatic about her Halloween costume”.

They go back and froth for a while discussing my “massive” problem before my aunt made a suggestion. She says she would make me a costume and use her skills as an artist to paint it. I was more than thrilled with the idea however what would I be. I sit now, on the kitchen floor currently the straw of my juicy juice box reached the end of the liquid making a noise. Annoyed, my mom takes the box away from me and held it in her hand she examined it for a few seconds before saying, “Why don’t we make her a juicy juice box?” I giggle at the silly idea before realizing that it was perfect. Not only did people call me juice as a pet name but I LOVED juicy juice. This completely satisfied six-year-old me.

     * * *
A week goes by and everyday I ask my mom if Aunt Laura can come by to make my one of a kind costume. She told me be patient she’ll be here next week. Those 7 days were the longest 7 days of my life. I watched the clock all day everyday waiting for the hours to go by. And finally the glorious day came.

     * * *

The doorbell rings. My tiny legs run as fast as they can to the front door. I stand up on my tippy toes to unlock and open the door. In comes my Aunt Laura barring a big cardboard box. My giant brown eyes grow even bigger in excitement. Never has a child been more excited about cardboard. My aunt soon roles out all of her paintbrushes, paints and tools. I slip into the box and she paints away. By the end of 2 hours I am transformed from a cute little chubby six year old into a cute little chubby six year old wearing a juicy juice box. I loved every bit of it. All the little details like “100% Julia Voglino, 1 teaspoon of sassy, and 3 tablespoons of sweet” made me so happy. The prettiest lime green color covers me and I love the giant red apples. I soon forget the sadness of my perfectly pretty pink poodle skirt. The next major issue in my life is the wait to Halloween. And this 5 day wait seemed even longer than the previous 7 day wait.

     *  * *
The day arrived, a brisk October morning was never so exciting. I begged my mom to let me wear my costume to school but I had to wait until the parade at the end of the day. Now I swear these were longest hours of my life, longer than the 7 days longer than the 5 days. Its when I saw my moms familiar face appear in the doorway that I knew it was time. Time to show off my unique hand painted costume that no one else would have.
I marched out of the bathroom with my costume on hair curled and smile a mile long. I can still hear the sounds the other kids made when I walked into the class. I loved telling everyone that my aunt had made it and how special it was to me because of that.

We started to walk in the parade when we passed the other classes. There was a crowd that seemed endless. It was a sea of people just as excited to be there as me. There were infinite amounts of costumes. I saw princesses and star wars and dinosaurs and monsters and animals.